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Ficus americana Aubl.

Jamaican cherry fig (en)

Species

Angiosperms > Rosales > Moraceae > Ficus

Characteristics

Trees , evergreen, to 12 m. Roots adventitious, aerial. Bark grayish to brown, smooth. Branchlets grayish, smooth. Leaves: stipules 0.7-0.9 cm; petiole 0.2-1 cm. Leaf blade elliptic to obovate, 2-8 × 1-4 cm, base usually acute or cuneate to nearly obtuse, margins entire, apex acute, obtuse, or short-apiculate; surfaces abaxially and adaxially glabrous; basal veins 1(-2) pairs; lateral veins 6-14 pairs, not uniformly spaced. Syconia paired, red, not spotted, globose, 3-7 mm diam., glabrous; peduncles 2-5 mm; subtending bracts 2, basally connate, ovate, 1-1.5 mm; ostiole ca. 1 mm wide, subtended by 3 bracts, bracts ca. 1 mm, not umbonate.
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Tree up to 20 m tall. Branchlets 1.5-3 mm thick, minutely puberulous to glabrous. Stipules 0.6-1.2 cm long, glabrous; petiole 0.5-1 cm long; blade coriaceous, elliptic, 1.5-4.5 x 0.5-2 cm, apex acuminate to acute, base rounded to subacute, glabrous above and beneath; secondary veins 8-10 pairs, prominent on both sides. Figs in pairs in the leaf axils, globose, 0.3-0.5 cm in diam., at maturity red to pink; peduncle 0.1-0.2 cm long; basal bracts ca. 1.5 mm long; ostiole ca. 1.5 mm in diam., plane to sligthly prominent.
A fig. It is a shrub or tree. It can be 30 m tall. The trunk can be 30 cm across. The leaves are 2-8 cm long by 1-4 cm wide. The figs occur in pairs in the axils of leaves. They are 3-7 mm across.
Life form perennial
Growth form tree
Growth support hemiepiphyte
Foliage retention evergreen
Sexuality monoecy
Pollination entomogamy
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 20.0
Root system adventitious-root
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color -
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

Water courses, savannah margins, in ridge, rain and mountain savannah, and montane forests, especially in swampy places.
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It is a tropical plant.
Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 9-12

Usage

Uses medicinal wood
Edible fruits
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

The flowers are pollinated by the fig wasp Pegoscapus clusiifolidis.
Mode seedlings
Germination duration (days) 15 - 90
Germination temperacture (C°) 21 - 26
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Leaf

Ficus americana leaf picture by Nelson Zamora Villalobos (cc-by-nc)
Ficus americana leaf picture by Nelson Zamora Villalobos (cc-by-nc)
Ficus americana leaf picture by Nelson Zamora Villalobos (cc-by-nc)

Fruit

Ficus americana fruit picture by SINAC Pérez Greivin (cc-by-sa)
Ficus americana fruit picture by SINAC Pérez Greivin (cc-by-sa)
Ficus americana fruit picture by Nelson Zamora Villalobos (cc-by-nc)

Distribution

Ficus americana world distribution map, present in Brazil, Ecuador, Guyana, Sri Lanka, Panama, United States of America, and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)

Conservation status

Ficus americana threat status: Least Concern

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:316336-2
WFO ID wfo-0000687276
COL ID 6HW6M
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID 629732
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR) Link

Synonyms

Urostigma consanguineum Urostigma eugeniifolium Urostigma oerstediana Urostigma chiriquianum Ficus americana Ficus arbutifolia Ficus consanguinea Ficus fadyeni Ficus jacquinaefolia Ficus liebmanniana Ficus sintenisii Ficus chiriquiana Ficus georgii Ficus oerstediana Ficus omphalophora Ficus perforata Ficus periplocifolia Urostigma liebmannianum Ficus eugeniifolia Ficus perforata f. roseiflora Ficus wilsonii

Lower taxons

Ficus americana subsp. andicola Ficus americana subsp. greiffiana Ficus americana subsp. guianensis Ficus americana subsp. subapiculata
WorldFloraDB 2024